Rachel Brown was selected as the Big East Conference's Goalkeeper of the Year for the second consecutive season.

PITTSBURGH-Senior goalkeeper Rachel Brown of the Pittsburgh women's soccer team was chosen as the Big East Conference's Goalkeeper of the Year yesterday at the annual championship banquet in Piscataway, N.J.

For Brown (Burnley, England/St. Christopher's/Alabama), it is her second consecutive Goalkeeper of the Year honor after winning the award last season in her first year with the Panthers. Voting was conducted among the league's 14 head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own players.

"It is certainly an honor to be chosen for a second year," Brown said. "The team got a lot better this season and it feels good to have been a part of it."

Brown, a co-captain this season, missed the Panthers' first four games of the season with a sprained medial collateral ligament, but returned to start the team's final 13 games. She was 5-7-1 with a 2.03 goals-against average in almost 1,200 minutes of play with 78 saves.

"She is a very talented goalkeeper that kept us in a lot of games," Head Coach Roland Sturk said. "We will certainly miss her athleticism and leadership in goal next year."

Brown made an immediate impact in her first two games of the season with a 2-1 victory over Big East-rival Georgetown (Sept. 21) and a nine-save performance in a 0-0, double-overtime tie with No. 21 Auburn (Sept. 23) in a three-day span.

Her other season highlights included a school-record-tying 16 saves in the final game of the season versus Penn State (Oct. 28) and a 2-1 victory at No. 24 Miami on Oct. 12.

Brown transferred to Pittsburgh from the University of Alabama, where she was the Southeastern Conference's Goalkeeper of the Year in 1999. Last season, Brown made 109 saves and recorded a 1.79 goals-against average in 17 games.

Before the season started, Brown was named the conference's Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year and helped keep the Panthers in many games with her stellar play. She holds the Pittsburgh records for lowest goals-against average and least goals allowed in a career.

Brown is the only Panther women's soccer player to be selected a conference player of the year.

Rachel Brown Selected as Big East Goalkeeper of the YearIt is the second consecutive year that Brown has been honored.